A field guide to field peas

A Southern favorite ‘loved by legions' throughout the summer

Published: Monday, July 8, 2013 at 8:59 a.m.

Last Modified: Monday, July 8, 2013 at 8:59 a.m.

Dixie Lee. Crowder. Pink-eyed. White acre.

These and scores of other names label the legumes known as field peas that are loved by legions in the South. Each has its vociferous, virtue-espousing advocates – creaminess, meatiness, earthiness – who will gladly queue up to whisk away the first crop of the season.

That season begins in late June around Southeastern North Carolina and theoretically continues until the first frost, although production typically drops off dramatically well before that.

With a seemingly endless variety to choose from, however, what exactly are these pea-packed pods that inspire such loyalty? Unraveling that ball of thread is a challenge, but essentially, the whole selection available in most local produce markets can be simmered down into two groups.

Knowing your beans

Phaseolus lunatus equals Lima beans. This family is native to the Americas. In markets around the South, popular varieties include butter beans, speckled (butter) beans and the confusingly named butter peas, which are a slightly smaller and creamier relative of the butter bean. (The name Lima? That's for the city in Peru.)

Vigna unguiculata has a whole host of subspecies that account for the rest of what we think of as Southern peas, including the ubiquitous black-eyed variant. This diverse group of legumes is thought to have originated with the African slave trade, landing on these shores in the 1600s. The term field pea broadly encompasses any kind of pea that isn't a garden pea like sugar snaps or snow peas.

Tim Honeycutt, who co-owns Country Fresh Produce Market with his wife, Sharon, doesn't care what you call them as long as he can keep enough in stock to feed loyal fans. His current crop hails from Chadbourn in Columbus County.

"There's so many different names for these. Wherever you're at they call it a different name," Honeycutt said. "It's kind of like fish. They call a fish one name here and up north it's another name."

With the season just getting underway, Sharon Honeycutt said one variety in particular has been in huge demand, and she has a good idea as to why.

"Green butter beans, that's our biggest seller," she said. "Around here, everybody's mother, great-grandmothers, that's what they grew up with. Hardly anybody has a garden anymore. It's just like peaches. You can't wait for peach season to come either."

Cooking your beans

Requiring little more than a quick simmer in salted water, or maybe a stock from pork bones if you're feeling flush, fresh peas and beans require none of the soaking of their dried counterparts and retain an enormous degree of green vegetal flavor.

As Wilmington, like the rest of the nation, finds her restaurants shifting the steak out of the center of the plate to give local produce more prominent play, look for field peas to star through the summer at local eateries. But don't expect a traditional treatment in all cases; More than a few cooks have taken creative liberties with time-honored recipes.

Chris Tucker, head chef at The Basics in the Cotton Exchange on N. Front Street, isn't about to spill the beans when it comes to revealing the popular restaurant's recipe for Hoppin' John, a black-eyed pea preparation with a near mythical reputation. But despite working in a kitchen known for sticking to Southern traditions, this Asian-fusion fanatic has been known to veer off course from time to time, and encourages home cooks to do the same.

"Basically, you can use any sort of pea (for Hoppin' John)," Tucker said. "I really enjoy pork belly or bacon in mine. I feel like that is the staple to cooking any sort of bean in the South, but you can really flavor it any way you want to. You don't have to stay within the Southern realm. You can add things like ginger or star anise or orange zest."

Considered by many to be one of the key architects in the contemporary Southern cuisine movement, Birmingham chef Frank Stitt pays tribute to field peas in his best-selling 2004 cookbook, "Frank Stitt's Southern Table."

"The season for these peas and beans is fleeting," Stitt wrote. "It seems as if no sooner than they've come to market and we've cooked up the first delectable batches and returned for more they've already begun to disappear. And, like everything else good that is fleeting, we mourn their passing."

<p>Dixie Lee. Crowder. Pink-eyed. White acre. </p><p>These and scores of other names label the legumes known as field peas that are loved by legions in the South. Each has its vociferous, virtue-espousing advocates – creaminess, meatiness, earthiness – who will gladly queue up to whisk away the first crop of the season.</p><p>That season begins in late June around Southeastern North Carolina and theoretically continues until the first frost, although production typically drops off dramatically well before that.</p><p>With a seemingly endless variety to choose from, however, what exactly are these pea-packed pods that inspire such loyalty? Unraveling that ball of thread is a challenge, but essentially, the whole selection available in most local produce markets can be simmered down into two groups.</p><p><b>Knowing your beans</b></p><p>Phaseolus lunatus equals Lima beans. This family is native to the Americas. In markets around the South, popular varieties include butter beans, speckled (butter) beans and the confusingly named butter peas, which are a slightly smaller and creamier relative of the butter bean. (The name Lima? That's for the city in Peru.)</p><p>Vigna unguiculata has a whole host of subspecies that account for the rest of what we think of as Southern peas, including the ubiquitous black-eyed variant. This diverse group of legumes is thought to have originated with the African slave trade, landing on these shores in the 1600s. The term field pea broadly encompasses any kind of pea that isn't a garden pea like sugar snaps or snow peas.</p><p>Tim Honeycutt, who co-owns Country Fresh Produce Market with his wife, Sharon, doesn't care what you call them as long as he can keep enough in stock to feed loyal fans. His current crop hails from Chadbourn in Columbus County.</p><p>"There's so many different names for these. Wherever you're at they call it a different name," Honeycutt said. "It's kind of like fish. They call a fish one name here and up north it's another name."</p><p>With the season just getting underway, Sharon Honeycutt said one variety in particular has been in huge demand, and she has a good idea as to why. </p><p>"Green butter beans, that's our biggest seller," she said. "Around here, everybody's mother, great-grandmothers, that's what they grew up with. Hardly anybody has a garden anymore. It's just like peaches. You can't wait for peach season to come either."</p><p><b>Cooking your beans</b></p><p>Requiring little more than a quick simmer in salted water, or maybe a stock from pork bones if you're feeling flush, fresh peas and beans require none of the soaking of their dried counterparts and retain an enormous degree of green vegetal flavor.</p><p>As Wilmington, like the rest of the nation, finds her restaurants shifting the steak out of the center of the plate to give local produce more prominent play, look for field peas to star through the summer at local eateries. But don't expect a traditional treatment in all cases; More than a few cooks have taken creative liberties with time-honored recipes.</p><p>Chris Tucker, head chef at The Basics in the <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic9957"><b>Cotton Exchange</b></a> on N. Front Street, isn't about to spill the beans when it comes to revealing the popular restaurant's recipe for Hoppin' John, a black-eyed pea preparation with a near mythical reputation. But despite working in a kitchen known for sticking to Southern traditions, this Asian-fusion fanatic has been known to veer off course from time to time, and encourages home cooks to do the same. </p><p>"Basically, you can use any sort of pea (for Hoppin' John)," Tucker said. "I really enjoy pork belly or bacon in mine. I feel like that is the staple to cooking any sort of bean in the South, but you can really flavor it any way you want to. You don't have to stay within the Southern realm. You can add things like ginger or star anise or orange zest."</p><p>Considered by many to be one of the key architects in the contemporary Southern cuisine movement, Birmingham chef Frank Stitt pays tribute to field peas in his best-selling 2004 cookbook, "Frank Stitt's Southern Table." </p><p>"The season for these peas and beans is fleeting," Stitt wrote. "It seems as if no sooner than they've come to market and we've cooked up the first delectable batches and returned for more they've already begun to disappear. And, like everything else good that is fleeting, we mourn their passing."</p><p><a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic9919"><b>Paul Stephen</b></a>: 343-2041</p><p><a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/news41"><b>Twitter</b></a>: @PaulJStephen</p>